Quick Take: Do you remember the stories that used to circulate about building a nuclear bomb from instructions on the Internet? I’m starting to feel that terrorists could bring down the grid by reading stories on the Internet. Every week we get details about another vulnerability. Here’s the latest gambit receiving widespread attention. My advice… Keep reading →
Some innovative California cities are engaging in assurance planning practices to make their energy supply more resilient during a major disaster such as earthquake, wildfire or landslide that could disrupt the normal supply for weeks. Their forward thinking includes the application of renewable distributed generation, microgrids, demand response, and other smart grid techniques and technologies… Keep reading →
The enormous blackout that left 50 million people along the US East Coast without power occurred 10 years ago this week and Scientific American spoke with electrical engineer Jeff Dagle, a member of the task force and a specialist in power-grid resilience at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, to find out what caused the failure and what’s… Keep reading →
Intense heat up and down the East Coast has air conditioning cranking and power generators pushing it to the limit. With electricity demand in places like New York City flirting with all-time highs, power prices are reaching staggering levels. “System demand in New York is expected to top out today at 99% of its all-time… Keep reading →
Post Hurricane Sandy, an influx of electricity workers from various parts of the country came to the New York/New Jersey area to help in the recovery process and to restore power in the region to nearly 10 million people left in the dark. Sandy caused massive flooding of power substations and corrosion of key electrical… Keep reading →
NY state commission asks feds to look into “troubling” relationship between utility and key consultant. The Long Island Power Authority, the target of multiple investigations in the wake of its poor response to Hurricane Sandy, may soon be facing investigation by federal prosecutors as well. A special commission appointed by New York Gov. Andrew… Keep reading →
Quick Take: I can’t think of a time when electric power reliability has been such a mainstream issue. Even President Obama is in on it, as you’ll read below. Given the interest from policymakers and the public, I hope our industry can use this opportunity to make the case for the money we need to… Keep reading →
Carnival Corp., whose customers suffered through a high-profile nightmare cruise in February, said it will spend between $600 million and $700 million to upgrade its fleet’s power systems.
Earlier this year, a fire aboard the Carnival Triumph caused the ship to lose power in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. It took five days to tow the ship to shore. During the ordeal, passengers said raw sewage from non-working toilets was sloshing through hallways and running down the walls of the cabins. They also reported stifling heat due to loss of air conditioning and limited food availability. A month later, another ship lost power when it was docked in the Caribbean, and Carnival had to fly all of its passengers home. Keep reading →
To all of the superlatives attached to Superstorm Sandy, add power outages.
Ten million customers in 21 states lost power in the wake of the storm, by far the most in the history of the U.S. utility industry, and well in excess of the 7 million whose electricity got knocked out in Hurricane Irene in 2011, the storm with the second-biggest impact. Keep reading →
See this comprehensive list of official NOAA Nat’l Weather Service Twitter feeds: http://bit.ly/TqarKt via @NSSL @usNWSgov @NOAA
